David E. Naugle

This study analyzes trends in mesic resource productivity in western U.S. rangelands using Landsat data and identifies shifts in drought response and predictors of productivity.

The paper develops NAIP-CHM, a high-resolution canopy height model using NAIP imagery and a U-Net model, achieving high accuracy for ecosystem monitoring.

The paper tests whether excluding fire and grazing reduces annual grass invasion in sagebrush steppe ecosystems, finding that protected areas are still heavily invaded by annual grasses.

The paper develops a framework to integrate riparian areas into sagebrush conservation planning by analyzing vegetation data and prioritizing restoration efforts based on water availability and habitat health.

The paper estimates rangeland fractional cover and canopy gap classes using Sentinel-2 satellite data for the western United States from 2018 to 2024.

The paper develops a dataset tracking cropland changes in North American grasslands from 1996 to 2021, revealing a 17% increase in cumulative cropland despite only 3% growth in active cropland.

This paper develops a spatial prioritization framework for conifer management to improve sagebrush ecological integrity by targeting high-priority areas for treatment.

The paper uses GPS data and machine learning to model the summering range of sandhill cranes, showing flood-irrigated agriculture and wetlands are critical for their distribution despite covering only 1.2% of the landscape.